Practice-based inservice teacher education: Generating local theory about the pedagogy of group work
Keywords:
learning environment, group work, arranging for learning, local theory, practice-basedAbstract
Developing local theories about what best works for Māori students is of critical importance to Aotearoa New Zealand. This discussion paper focuses on grouping as arranging for learning, by examining multiple ways in which grouping as pedagogy appears in practice settings and associated literature. We take the stance of interpretive bricoleurs to generate understandings of group work in light of a new moment in New Zealand’s pedagogical history, that of practice-based teacher education. We explore three examples of local theory cogenerated in English-medium education settings with predominantly Māori learners. We identify the emergence of an expanded set of practices that illuminate multiple internal contradictions within government, school-based, and practice-based discourses about group work as arranging for learning.
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